


The Hummingbird, The Lion and The Wolf

by purple_bookcover



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Happy, Kissing, M/M, Nonbinary Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc, Other, Pillow & Blanket Forts, Polyamory, Post-Canon, Reading
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:48:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25170388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purple_bookcover/pseuds/purple_bookcover
Summary: Felix, the Duke of Fraldarius, is hard at work when he gets some startling news. His partner, Ashe, has been acting strange lately.Felix goes to find him and discovers not only Ashe, but Yuri as well.This is a cozy, happy, poly fic about them snuggling up in a blanket fort.
Relationships: Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert/Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert/Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc, Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert/Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc, Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	The Hummingbird, The Lion and The Wolf

A thin trickle of red sunset slashed into the room. Felix hadn't watched the watery mid-winter light deepen to crimson; he didn't notice it cool to violet.

He sat hunched at a desk, writing by candlelight, massaging his forehead as he poured through the documents before him. A land dispute here. A report on grain stores there. A transcript of two farmers arguing over a sheep with a black spot on its ear and whether said sheep had always belonged to farmer A or whether it had merely wandered off farmer B's property and been subsequently claimed by farmer A without proper documentation.

And for some reason all of this was Felix's problem.

He didn't realize his back ached until the door opened and he sat up with a start. Something popped between his shoulder blades.

An old woman entered the room. Felix relaxed.

“Aline,” he said.

When Glenn died, when war broke out, when Rodrigue fell, when the whole world went insane, Aline was still here. Still in Fraldarius Keep. Still looking after Felix as she had when he was a boy and his mother had started the long chain of tragedy that would befall his family.

She wasn't the only one who'd stayed after Felix took over as duke. Not that he'd forced anyone to remain. In fact, he'd insisted he'd take care of the keep and the business of being duke alone.

In reality, he needed Aline's help. Hers and so many others'. At least he could pay them, encourage them to come and go as they willed, treat them like employees and not servants.

“Working late,” Aline said.

Felix blinked, finally noticing the wane light struggling through the windows. “I suppose,” he said.

“It's not good for the eyes,” Aline said.

Felix shrugged.

She sighed. “Still my stubborn boy. Well, that aside, there's been a bit of a fuss about the keep and I thought I ought to let you know.”

“A fuss?”

She nodded. “It's Ashe.”

Felix tensed, protective instincts kicking in. After the war, Felix had enlisted Ashe to serve Fraldarius as a knight. But Ashe had done far more than a warrior's duties. He'd changed the way the keep ran, changed the way the whole of Fraldarius ran. In truth, he'd spent more time and energy flattening the disparity between rich and poor than fighting enemies on a battlefield.

And if, for all that, the people here wanted to call Ashe “the duke's consort” or even “the second duke,” Felix wasn't inclined to dissuade them.

But that came with costs. While most lauded the reforms Ashe had spearheaded, there were many, especially among the wealthy and powerful, who were less enthusiastic about talk of equality.

“All is well,” Aline said, soothing Felix's worries. “But folks are starting to get curious. Ashe has been requesting all manner of strange things. Old sheets. Broken chairs. Feathers from the coops. People are beginning to talk. I thought you ought to sort out the mystery yourself before the rumors had a chance to grow.”

Felix glanced back at the stack of papers on his desk.

“And,” Aline added, “you likely need a break.”

His back ached as though in agreement. Felix sighed, but snuffed out the candle and stood all the same. Goddess, his body hadn't felt this sore when he was training with a sword every day. How could a chair make him feel like an old man in a matter of hours?

He thanked Aline before leaving the study. Felix didn't need any further information to guess where Ashe was. He headed directly for the one place in the keep he knew he'd find his partner.

Sure enough, when he entered the library, he saw a glow of candlelight. But—

Felix stopped short just inside the doorway. The books lining the walls scented the air with the warm vanilla of time-crisped pages. But there were other smells. Smoke, presumably from the candle. And also something sweet.

Most worrying of all, Felix could not see Ashe anywhere. What he did see was a great heap of blankets and sheets at the far end of the room, like a boulder made of dirty laundry.

Felix approached cautiously, moving with the care and precision he'd once used to stalk enemies.

Candlelight glowed beneath the blankets. All manner of mismatched fabric lay draped across chairs, creating a tent of sorts. A tent in the back of his library.

Felix heard a laugh from within the sheets and smiled. He'd know that lovely noise anywhere. He crouched, plucking at the fabrics until he found an edge he could peel back.

Ashe yelped when Felix peered into the “tent.”

“Oh, Felix,” Ashe said. “It's just you.”

“What are you doing?” Felix said.

“It's a blanket fort.”

“A... a what?”

Ashe laughed, the sweet noise tugging at Felix's chest like a hook dragging a fish. He'd always been helpless when confronted with that earnest, unhindered joy. It was made worse now by the way candlelight splashed against Ashe's freckled cheeks, leaving them rosy as the dawn, by the way the flame danced in those bright green eyes that had held Felix captive for years.

“Come in,” Ashe said. “I'll show you. Just be careful of the candle.”

Felix crawled into Ashe's so-called “fort.” It seemed to be little more than a collection of broken chairs with blankets and sheets draped over them. Ashe had built it against a corner, laying down cushions full of feathers on the ground and against the cold stone wall. And he had snacks, of course. Sweet cakes he'd probably baked himself. They perched on the chairs holding up the sheets.

“What do you think?” Ashe said.

“It's... something,” Felix said.

Ashe just smiled.

“Aline told me you were asking for strange things,” Felix said.

“Heh, yeah, I guess I was,” Ashe said. “But I really wanted a cozy spot to read and it's just so _cold_ out there now. So I thought I'd make someplace nice.”

“It is very nice,” Felix said.

“Yeah?” Ashe said. “Well, you're welcome to stay, if you like. You look tired.”

Felix exhaled a breath. “I am tired.”

Ashe stroked Felix's hair away from his face. Felix closed his eyes, leaning into the touch. “I know,” Ashe said. “You work really hard. Why don't you stay with me a bit?”

“Mmm,” Felix said. He didn't care where they were so long as Ashe kept petting his hair like this.

“Here,” Ashe said. He lifted the book he'd been reading, patting his lap. “Lie down.”

Felix didn't bother protesting. He nestled into Ashe's lap, resting against his thighs, curling up to get his legs inside the fort. It was warm and cozy with both of them under the blankets. Ashe's hand returned to Felix's hair, stroking it absently as he went back to his book.

“What are you reading?” Felix mumbled.

“ _Loog and the Maiden of Wind_.”

This time, it was Felix who laughed. “Again?”

“Of course!” Ashe sounded affronted. “Do you want to hear it?”

“Mmm.” In truth, Felix didn't care one way or the other, but the thought of listening to Ashe's soft voice while curled up in his lap was powerfully tempting.

“I was kind of in the middle of it, but I guess that doesn't matter so much. You've heard it before. Let's see...”

Felix could hear Ashe flipping around, then running a finger down the page. The whisper of Ashe's skin over the paper washed through Felix like a blush of sunlight, a gentle heat that made prickles rise on his arms.

“There we are.” Ashe's voice was hushed within the confines of the fort as he began reading:

_Loog arrived at the great city of Tara, determined to join the king's court. But when he rode up to the castle, a guard stopped him at the gates._

“ _What is your business here?” the guard demanded._

“ _Why, I've come to join the court,” Loog replied._

_But the guard laughed at him. “Who are you, that you might join the king's court?” the guard said. “What could you possibly offer a king?”_

“ _I am Loog,” he said. “A warrior, a harpist, a poet, a historian, a sorcerer, a craftsman, a smith and more besides. I offer my services to your king, that we might defeat the evil within this land.”_

_The guard's laughter only grew. “Very well, Loog of the many talents. Prove yourself! I daresay if you are half of what you claim, you may be permitted to join the king's court yet.”_

_Undeterred, Loog said--_

The blanket shifted. Ashe and Felix jerked, Felix nearly smacking his head on a chair as he flinched out of Ashe's lap.

Yuri peered into the blanket fort, smirking at the pair.

“My, what a curious nest you've made, my little perching bird,” Yuri said. They slipped into the blanket fort, sitting and evaluating it like they were examining a towering fortress or magnificent art gallery.

“Yuri,” Ashe gasped. “What are you doing here? When did you return?”

Yuri tapped the end of Ashe's nose. “I always return, songbird. I might not mention when or why, but you may rest assured that you won't be without me for long.” They turned their mischievous eyes on Felix, flicking them up and down his body. “Nor you, my weary Duke Fraldarius. Overworking yourself again?”

“I _was_ resting,” Felix said.

“Oh, I noticed,” Yuri said.

Even after all the time the three of them had spent together, including privately in Felix's chambers, Felix still felt a flush creep into his cheeks.

“No need to feel embarrassed,” Yuri said. “I think you've got quite the right idea. I've every intention of joining you.”

“Oh,” Ashe said as Yuri curled up in his lap, right where Felix had lain.

“Yuri,” Felix said. He couldn't keep the exasperation from his voice. Even though Yuri had been their... their... guest? occasional companion? sometimes partner? for moons, Felix still wasn't quite accustomed to Yuri's frequent disappearances. They would show up at random, like now, and vanish again just as suddenly. Sometimes they stayed for days, or weeks — once for an entire moon. But they always slipped away again.

“Yes, your Duke-ness?” Yuri said.

Felix rolled his eyes. “I don't presume you're going to explain where you were?”

“Indeed I won't,” Yuri said. “And you ought not scrunch up that pretty face over it. Come, Ashe's lap is big enough for the both of us.”

Felix looked to Ashe, steady, reliable, trustworthy Ashe. Ashe shrugged, but did not seem opposed to the idea.

When Felix turned back to Yuri, prepared to concede, he found Yuri had pushed up onto their arms, bringing them level with Felix. They propped themself up on one arm, using their free hand to tug at Felix's collar and draw him to their mouth. Yuri tasted like the cold winter air of Fraldarius, a chill that lingered on their lips and fingertips. Even with the strange gaps between their visits, Yuri's kiss also tasted — felt — like comfort, like long evenings spent doing nothing in particular, like mornings lounging in bed far too long and letting the troubles of an entire kingdom drift past.

They pulled back, smiling at Felix, running a finger along his jaw. “Relax, my prideful lion. You'll grind your teeth to nothing that way.”

Felix rolled his eyes, biting back a smile.

“There we are,” Yuri said.

They settled back down in Ashe's lap and Felix followed. It took a bit of shuffling, but soon all three of them were cozy and content within Ashe's blanket fort. Yuri's fingers played lazily in Felix's hair. Ashe thumbed through well-worn pages. Felix sighed against Ashe's legs, letting his heavy eyelids droop shut.

During the war, Felix never could have fathomed a life like this. Everything had been so dark, so hopeless and bloody and bleak, that a kind touch, a soft voice, a gentle hand seemed utterly improbable. Not merely to receive. Felix had feared, early on, when Ashe had made his affections known, that he himself would be the problem, too hurt to reciprocate, too mangled to have anything comforting to offer someone else.

And now here he was. It wasn't perfect; he knew the peace of this little blanket fort would only last the evening. Knew there was all of Fraldarius waiting for him beyond these sheets. Knew there was strife, hardship, disease, injustice and worse out there. Knew that it fell to him to fix what he could, to heal whatever he could reach.

But he would fix it. He would get up tomorrow and he would work until his eyes went bleary and his back ached. He would settle disputes, help whomever he could help, right the wrongs seared into the earth itself by the horrors of war.

For now, though, he would accept some kindness himself. The soothing brush of Yuri's fingers; the soft music of Ashe's voice mumbling about kings and knights and heroes who fought tirelessly to save the world.

“Ashe,” Yuri said, “please keep reading, hummingbird.”

Felix heard Ashe inhale. Then, he picked up the story where he'd left off:

“ _Very well, Loog of the many talents. Prove yourself! I daresay if you are half of what you claim, you may be permitted to join the king's court yet.”_

_Undeterred, Loog said, “I shall.”_

_He turned his horse away from the guard and the castle and the great city of Tara._

_Far off, beyond the rivers and mountains, it was rumored that the maiden of wind languished, held captive by an evil dragon. Loog rode toward the mountains, determined to save her._

_Determined to save the whole world._

**Author's Note:**

> I was gonna make this smut, but I got lazy. So here.
> 
> I'm on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/purplebookcover) (18+ please).
> 
> I respond to every comment. Thank you, friends!
> 
> Did you know there’s an actual Ashelix Week coming up??? Oct 17-24, 2020, will be Ashelix Week. Come create some good, good Ashelix.


End file.
